[ahupp]

To be fair to the Segway, there's a remarkable number of self-balancing one wheel scooters on the street in SF these days (well, a few months ago). And I think you can trace all of those back to Segway. Sometimes v1 doesn't quite do it.

[_jal]

Those are toys. Back in the day, Kamen was going on about redesigning cities around them.

[vikramkr]

They're toys that a lot of people use as their primary methods of transport, along with other micro mobility solutions like electric scooters amd good old fashioned bikes. In a way, the future took the path of least resistance and redesigned micromobility around cities instead. And we might still end up redesigning cities around some of those options

The segways itself doesnt make much sense to me though. I dont remember too much about the hype when it was released, but like, I'm still unclear about what it was supposed to be able to do that an electrified scooter or bike couldn't.

[mikestew]

I'm still unclear about what it was supposed to be able to do that an electrified scooter or bike couldn't.

When the Segway was released? It could do this one cool trick: actually exist. Electric bikes and scooters (at least at any sort of scale) were at least ten years off.

There were other factors. Ungodly expensive for what it was, and poor enough range that I questioned whether it could get the six-ish miles from the house to Microsoft's main campus with that WA-520 hill to contend with. Now my Boosted Rev scooter can almost do the 7.5 mile round trip to work, with that same WA-520 hill, and for 1/3rd the price the original Segway was going for.

EDIT: oh, wait a minute, the max speed on the original Segway was like 20kph/12mph, right? Yeah, the Rev would easily make the 15 mile round trip if I were riding it that slowly.

[kd5bjo]

> I'm still unclear about what it was supposed to be able to do that an electrified scooter or bike couldn't.

Segways have much better low-speed handling characteristics than bicycles, which makes them safer to intermix with pedestrians: Travelling at a slow amble speed in a crowded environment is extremely difficult on a bicycle, but no big deal for a Segway (or similar)

[mumblemumble]

The primary fault that causes bikes to mix poorly with pedestrians occurs between the handlebars and the helmet. Bikes are, in fact, super easy to operate in close proximity to and at the same speed as people who are on foot. The trick is to not have it between your legs.

[intopieces]

I know the market is small but the Segway was a fantastic upgrade for some people with limited mobility. A classmate of mine in college (2007 or so) who has cerebral palsy got one and it totally changed her ability to get between classes. More maneuverable than a wheelchair, faster than walking with crutches.

[closetohome]

I finally got to try one around 2002, and I have to say it completely changed my opinion. The price didn't matter, the wacky overhyped introduction didn't matter, self-balancing was such a revolutionary technology that I immediately saw where it was going.

Now I ride a Onewheel.

[nsxwolf]

It let you stand up, and it wouldn't fall over.

[chris_wot]

Unless your last name is Bush.

[throwawaybbqed]

Your comment raised the hair on back. I was a naive student in those days. Kamen's build up to the announcement and some of the posts of people who had tried "it" - they broke my heart and took away some of my innocence. You reminded me of all the hype pre-announcement. I couldn't sleep because of it.

I still respect Kamen but take every pre-announcement I hear with a strong degree of skepticism.

[_ea1k]

I think tools like this can be much more than toys: https://www.ewheels.com/product/new-gotway-msuper-x-msx-1600...

60 miles of range!

[Fricken]

Urban planners are still all about micrcomobility

[nordsieck]

> Those are toys.

If you're referring to electric unicycles e.g. SoloWheel, they are probably the perfect compliment to mass transit.

[wongarsu]

That may still happen. The trend is very recent and cities aren't redesigned in a day.

[cguess]

Perhaps they're big in SF, but they exist basically nowhere else in numbers that matter in any way (aside from those super weird Segway tours in like D.C.). Sometimes the tech itself just isn't that good, and sometimes it's a bad idea.

[semerda]

Unlike Magic Leap, wasn’t Segway the first personal transporter with self balancing technology? Ie. Setting a new bar. Hence others followed from that new standard. I’m not aware of Magic Leap setting any new bars.

[ericd]

From what I've heard, the Beast did set some new bars.

[wpietri]

Is the number remarkable? I would be very surprised if those were more than 1% of traffic.

[ahupp]

Entirely possible that they are just more memorable than a regular bike. But they are definitely way more popular than a Segway.